Italian luxury brand Gucci has appointed Georgian designer Demna (Demna Gvasalia) as its artistic director, owner Kering said on Thursday (March 13), as it tries to revitalise its struggling flagship label and stop a slide in sales. "His creative power is exactly what Gucci needs," Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault said in a statement. Once one of the industry's biggest success stories, Gucci has suffered a prolonged sales decline, with revenue down 24% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Demna, known by only his first name, has introduced streetwear to the realm of luxury since debuting for Kering's smaller Balenciaga label in 2016. Read more: She has collected more than 1,500 blouses, she also heads a fashion house He will take up the prestigious role at Gucci in July, the first non-Italian artistic director since US designer Tom Ford departed in 2004. Although widely praised, the 43-year-old sparked a major backlash in 2022 over ad campaigns involving children, which he later said was the "wrong artistic choice".
One featured a handbag in the form of a stuffed teddy bear in bondage-style straps, held by children. Another campaign included papers featuring text from a 2008 Supreme Court ruling relating to child pornography. Demna, one of the industry’s most influential designers, graduated with a degree in international economics in 2001 before moving to Germany, and then Belgium to study fashion design.
The latest in a string of top moves in luxury fashion came only hours a.
